


Discussion

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexuality, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 01:57:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17173655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: It’s sort of a coming out story, featuring Blink and Mush, and playing with the idea of how one person might explain asexuality to another in the late 1800s.





	Discussion

“Met a girl last night,” Mush announced over dinner. It was a pretty frequent announcement coming from him.

“Bet you did.” Blink was as casual as could be, even though Mush was giving him one of those real significant looks that always made Blink wonder whether or not there were any rules against making enemies out of the lady folk. 

Mush just grinned into his pancakes. Those were the Thursday night special at Tibby’s, at four for eights cents, and he liked them a lot. 

“She was great,” Mush continued to gush. “You would’ve loved her. We talked for a while. An hour or two at least. All about horses mostly. Never met anybody who knew so many things about horses. They does a lot to horses in this city that ain’t so nice. Like some folks use special reins so they can’t move their heads. What do you think of that, Kid?” 

“Sounds like it’s awfully hard on the horses.” 

“I tried to go the day without moving my head, just to see what it feels like.” 

Blink laughed. “Is that what you was doing when we first went out this morning?” 

Mush nodded enthusiastically. That’s how Blink knew not to ask him whether or not he’d given up on the idea, because nodding without moving your head was just about impossible. . 

“Girls give everybody strange notions,” said Blink. “Just yours are stranger than most.” 

“Yeah,” Mush agreed. He took a bite out of his pancake, still smiling. “That’s ‘cause I don’t want to clean up and make ‘em like me. I just wanna…” 

“They already like you,” Blink interrupted, then he wondered if he ought to be telling Mush that. Maybe he’d take it to heart, and find one who would keep him steady, instead of just letting them jabber on about whatever weird things popped into their pretty heads. 

“Yeah, but see, I don’t mean for them to like me like that,” Mush said. His voice was slower now, and quieter too. He took another big bite of his pancake. “You know what I mean by ‘like that’, huh Blink?” He continued around a very full mouth. “I’m guessing I don’t gotta spell it out for you or nothing.” 

Blink was pretty sure he did get what Mush meant. That’s why he had to bite his inner cheek to keep his own smile from being as wide and foolish as Mush’s. “Hey,” was all he said, quietly now too, just incase anybody was listening in. “Not like everyone wants it. With girls I mean.”

“You want to be with about half the girls you see,” Mush pointed out. “Not always for talking.” 

Blink shrugged, leaning back in his chair, affecting an air of ease. “Fair enough, but it ain’t like girls is the only sort of people the good lord put on this planet.”

“Right!” Mush leaned forward, like he rather liked the subject. “There are all kinds of people on this planet, ain’t there Blink? That’s one of the good things about it. Except for the bad people, but there ain’t so many of them.” 

“You figure?” 

Mush nodded, and Blink guessed they’d be getting into a real philosophical discussion about good and evil. Blink never liked those discussions much, except with Mush. Mush had a way of seeing things better than everybody else, without seeming to preach about it. Mush could always make Blink feel like the world was a good place, even in spite of what Blink had seen of it. 

When Mush next spoke however, his voice was kind of halting and unsure, not at all like Blink was expecting. 

“So Blink…” He started. He leaned in a little closer, and Blink leaned in too, so both of their heads were close to the table and close to each other, so close that Blink could smell the molasses on Mush’s breath. 

“Yeah?” Blink nodded encouragingly. 

“What if I didn’t wanna be with nobody? Boys or girls or anybody else?”

“I don’t follow.” 

Mush frowned, his brow scrunching up, like he was trying to say something, but didn’t know the word for it. He had a way of kind of cocking his head to one side when he was thinking really hard about something, which Blink recognized, because he knew Mush better than he knew anybody. It was this knowing that also let Blink know that he had better shut up and let Mush think about what it was he wanted to say. 

“Maybe,” said Mush, “I wanna be with you but the way we is now. Friends. Best friends. Not like Jack and Davey, though. Or Jack and Sarah. Or Jack and… didn’t he know some lady, Anna the cook’s sister, a couple years back? Not like that.” 

Blink wasn’t sure what to think about this, so he shoved half a pancake in his face, and chewed while he considered. Mush watched him. 

“So you just want to be friends with everybody,” Blink repeated, seeing that his silence on the matter was making Mush anxious.

“But better friends with you.” 

“And not like Jack in any way.”

“Jack’s a really nice guy!” Mush hastened to explain. “I like him a lot. He’s…” 

“Nah, I get it. He’s just a good example. Not the only example you could’ve picked, but a good one.”

“So it’s alright?” Mush asked. 

“Yeah,” Blink agreed, because he knew what was important and what wasn’t, and he guessed that this was. “You know you better than anybody else does. You know what you want. Don’t worry about it.”


End file.
